Burton Bridge Thomas Sykes Old Ale

On tap at Rich O’s Pours clear amber with a fully receding white head. Aroma of grape, toffee, red wine, light tart note. Taste of red wine, phenols, tannins, tart/acidic, cherry and oak. Medium to full bodied, dry with light alcoholic note, and no carbonation.

Cask at Twickenham Beer Festival 2007. Pours red copper colou. Small bubbly head. Nose of toffee and caramel. Some malt and hops. Sweet, sticky and hoppy and finishes quite bitter. Alcohol burn. Quite complex.

Cask @ Twickenham BF. Copper colour with not much head. Alcohol aroma hits right away followed by a rich / sweet / caramel aroma. Taste is sweet / toffee / honey. Great barley wine. Smoother and more drinkable than I thought it would be.

A toast to Michal Jackson, 2007-09-28. Cask (Kitty’s, Helsinki) Wonderful sickly sweet rotting fruit aroma. Winey on the taste - white grapes. BALLS OF STEEL - this beer has more guts than most beers have beer. The taste accompanies the aroma, but had a huge bitter component too. The sweet rotting flavour’s the one that you’ll remember though - you will never be in any doubt this is made from a fermented mash. Warning - whole pints are, erm, dangerous.

Poured a shiny copper color. Very bright. Rather retentive head that held up well. Nose was bursting with peppery heat and perhaps a bit too strong. The alcohol was perhaps a bit too much. It wasn’t really being cut by much at all. Some malted toffee was able to break through and that aspect was raher enjoyable. Some mild wood tones that came across more as a sourness. Overall, just a tad out of balance with the alcohol. This beer makes me think it would be better as a late night scotch or toddy. Personally, I think I prefer milder beers pumped from a cask. This one was a bit too much and he wood didn’t do all that much to balance it out.